2018 Pinktober Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
Event 5
$565 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 505
Prize Pool: $252,500
October 11-14, 2018

Tampa, FL – It took until the wee morning hours of Monday, but Vinny Censabella is a Pinktober Poker Open champion following a win in the series-headlining $565 buy-in, $200,000 guarantee. The title came after a long Day 2 that saw Censabella take the top spot following a five-way chop just before 3am. As chip leader, Censabella earned the lion’s share of the prize pool — a $39,102 payout — along with the property’s token guitar trophy.

Officially recognized as Event 5 of the first-ever series, the Pinktober Poker Open headliner drew 505 entries easily surpassing the $200,000 guarantee. Censabella was among a tough crew of talent that included John Dolan, Justin Zaki and Jonthan Hilton — all of whom finished in the money. Unfazed, Censabella took the chip lead midway through the day and never looked back riding it all the way to short-handed play.

Joining Censabella in the chop was Tampa regular Tony March who took home $20,560 for his performance. A portion of all tournament buy-ins already went toward the American Cancer Society, but March doubled down donating all of his winnings to his charity, the Pay it Backward Foundation.

The Pinktober Poker Open kicked off October 6th and ran all the way through Sunday’s $565 final table. In that time, more than $11,000 was raised for charity and Censabella co-headlined the event as the standout champion. Censabella is a 26-year-old project engineer from Winter Springs, Florida. He has a handful of recorded cashes both here in Tampa and in Hollywood, but his winnings are modest — less than $10,000. The Pinktober Poker Open win marks his largest and most notable poker accomplishment to day.

Stay tuned as the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa looks to run it back in October 2019!

Full $565 results:

1st: Vinny Censabella – $39,102
2nd: Gregory White – $31,298 + $1,650 WPO Seat
3rd: Michael Garavuso – $20,812 + $1,650 WPO Seat
4th: Tony March – $20,560 + $1,650 WPO Seat
5th: Joseph Skarzynski – $14,906 + $1,650 WPO Seat
6th: Anthony Dianaty – $8,299
7th: Trevor Hurst – $6,701
8th: Lahcen Imkhaoun – $5,471
9th: Ryan Sullivan – $4,734
10th: Wayne Daley – $4,119
11th: Rafael Perez Guerrero – $4,119
12th: Chris Williams – $4,119
13th: Brian Hooser – $3,627
14th: John Dolan – $3,627
15th: Mark “Bud” Wiser – $3,627
16th: Sarbjit Singh – $3,135
17th: Helberth Ortiz – $3,135
18th: Huyen Vo – $3,135
19th: Eric Mutschler – $2,643
20th: Timothy Shortell – $2,643
21st: Dushyant Gulati – $2,643
22nd: David DiBernardi– $2,385
23rd: Tara Schwartz – $2,385
24th: Daniel Brown – $2,385
25th: Sanjib Archarya – $2,139
26th: Steve Collins – $2,139
27th: Wil McCraney – $2,139
28th: Petr Hruska – $1,906
29th: Bradley Patton – $1,906
30th: Andre Rakusa – $1,906
31st: Ron Lane – $1,906
32nd: Kevin Malick – $1,906
33rd: Zo Karim – $1,906
34th: Fernando Rodriguez – $1,906
35th: Dmitriy Konikov – $1,906
36th: Allen Hedin – $1,906
37th: Christopher Holland – $1,623
38th: Rami Mikhail – $1,623
39th: Justin Zaki – $1,623
40th: Daniel Rogers – $1,623
41st: Witold Wasik – $1,623
42nd: Jonathan Hilton – $1,623
43rd: Alex Beece – $1,623
44th: Aaron Speer – $1,623
45th: Saj Illikal – $1,623
46th: Oscar Lindo Zeledon – $1,352
47th: Meir Barack – $1,352
48th: Brandon Lamora – $1,352
49th: Steve Trizis – $1,352
50th: Michael Traficante – $1,352
51st: Patrick Murphy – $1,352